Donie,

"8 feet" was an over estimate on my part. It's more like 6 feet. That's an interesting question as to ..if the WA lens created the effect that the dolly was moving further than it actually was. But I'm not sure of the answer. :) ...There are 2 or 3 shots on the clip, where the floor was smooth enough to use the cart ..without the track. 1. grand piano clip ....2. the mexico flag ..with pillars in the foreground.


j.

Thanks John,

I was wondering how to make a smooth track and I never though of the way you've done it. BTW: the shots are excellent, I'm very impressed with your work.

Thanks for showing the rest of us how it's done...
Donie

sweet little dolly. i might have to reverse engineer those photos and make myself one... please to be telling us about the jib.

the jib in the last picture is home made. I used a tripod from a telescope, and built the rest. It's a decent little crane, unfortunately the xl2 and the weights required to balance it out was a little too heavy for the tripod . I used the crane as much as I could during the shoot, without it collapsing, but I didnt end up using any of the footage because the lighting in the scenes wasnt that great


j.

<<<-- Originally posted by John Wheeler : Donie,

"8 feet" was an over estimate on my part. It's more like 6 feet. That's an interesting question as to ..if the WA lens created the effect that the dolly was moving further than it actually was. But I'm not sure of the answer. :) ...There are 2 or 3 shots on the clip, where the floor was smooth enough to use the cart ..without the track. 1. grand piano clip ....2. the mexico flag ..with pillars in the foreground.

j. -->>>

Pretty amazing moving footage, John. Almost like shot from the front of a moving plane.

Can you recommend any material on the best ways to shoot using dollies. Videos or reading material would be great.

Thanks,
earon
vancouver, canada

Excellent work, and an amazing depiction of Matamoros, It's close from my hometown, so I know how beautiful it is. Amazing!

First of all the video was great. Incedible use of the dolly to create motion in several scenes.

I do want to ask one question: As a fellow user of the Century .6x WA adapter I'd like to know how p#%**ed off you were when you saw that shot of the ceiling in the rotunda and discovered some dust or small spots on your lens had infilitrated your video? I am not dogging it but this is my single biggest problem with the add on WA adapters. The smallest little speck of dust or dirt and a little light will really show up on the recorded video.

Other than that I love it. Well Actually I love it anyway but I had to comment on that as it happens to me a lot. Just wondering if it frustrates you also.

Thanks!

<<<-- Originally posted by Earon Kavanagh :
Pretty amazing moving footage, John. Almost like shot from the front of a moving plane.

Can you recommend any material on the best ways to shoot using dollies. Videos or reading material would be great.
-->>>

Earon. I wish I could point you to specific information over the use of a dolly. But really all I've done is to try and mimic what I see in the movies. The biggest influence I have as far as "quality" cinematography is a "movie/documentery" called Baraka. It's loaded with silky smooth dolly and crane shots. Mixed in with time lapse.

I remember watching a movie called The Royal Tenenbaums. The director went dolly crazy in that film. It really kind of opened my eyes to the beauty of a smooth dolly shot.


Marty,

I wasnt really P*#$%d ...because I knew the entire time that the WA lens wasnt perfectly clean. My friend had all her lens cleaning supplies ..and we'd try and try to get it clean, but it was so windy, and I had so little time ...that I just shot anyway. ...But I definately feel that that shot is the weakiest one. It looks faded ..and you can see the spots. But I just love the motion. :) ....that was shot with the dolly as well. I just angled the axle so that the dolly would roll in a circle.


j.

john, you even included a picture of the lovely assisstant to the magician =).

very nice rig, very smart too. never thought of that.

Is there any way I can see this on a Mac? Thanks

I use a mac and it worked for me. You might need to download Windows Media Player 9 for Mac

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherpr...d=windowsmedia

Hi all

After reading this thred I was looking forward to seeing the movie...no luck I am using a mac with OSX 10.37 with windows media player installed.
I click on the link...the page loads ...but it is blank...nothing.
Any help would be most welcome.
I like the stills very interesting.

did you use safari or internet explorer as ur browser, sometimes one or the other works, its weird, but maybe that can help dling wmv file.

jason

the page that opens does nothing but spawn the wmv file. a plug in should handle it or it will prompt for a save. Try firefox. http://www/mozilla.com
Other than that, pop open your download manager and verify that the file is being transfered.

Man, those were some sexy, smooth shots. A really good combination of great light, editing and scenery. Thanks for the track idea.

slo-mo?
 

john,

Did you slow down the shot of the flag waving thats right after the time lapse shot of the red house? Becuase the motion of the flag looks great! If you did what percent did you slow it to, 85%?80%? Also are those wheels on your dolly from a "hand truck dolly?" like to move ovens with?

Thanks!
Chris